


Wait and Hope

by monobuu



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Blood, Coffee shop meeting, Hopeful Ending, Humor, M/M, Meet-Ugly, Misunderstandings, Pre-Relationship, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Tony is amused, bucky is a dork, but not in a violent way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:56:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28837422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monobuu/pseuds/monobuu
Summary: Tony meets a handsome man outside a coffee shop and it’s everything you might imagine in a stereotypical meet-cute. Until the man opens his mouth.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 31
Kudos: 334





	Wait and Hope

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta-read!

Tony was just about to push open the door to the café when he glanced up from his phone and did a double take. There was a tall, incredibly well-built man with dark brown hair pulled back into a messy bun, standing in front of the café’s large window. At first Tony thought he was looking through the window into the interior, perhaps watching as a friend got them their coffee, or trying to see the menu through the window before committing to going inside. Or perhaps he was being a huge creeper and following someone, who knew?

But as Tony tried to get a better look at his face, because the guy was checking all of Tony’s boxes, one after the other, Tony really couldn’t help himself – Tony realized that the stranger was actually staring at a potted plant that stood just to the side of the window.

Which was… odd. To say the least.

Several people came out of the café, bustling by Tony and temporarily interrupting his view of the guy. When they passed, Tony watched as the man turned his head towards the commotion, settling his gaze on Tony himself. And yeah, the guy was a 12 on a scale of one to ten, possibly even a 15 after one side of his mouth kicked up into a smirk upon seeing Tony.

Tony smiled back, about to ask if the guy wanted to join him for a coffee inside, when everything went straight to shit.

The guy opened his mouth in what was surely supposed to be a smile and blood came pouring out, dripping down his chin and falling to splat against the sidewalk. As Tony stood there frozen in shock, the man glanced down, wiped his chin absently and then sent a grin in Tony’s direction. It was a grizzly sight, his teeth stained red, with bloody smears across his chin and cheek where his attempt to wipe it away had really only made it worse.

“Ow,” the man said and that managed to snap Tony out of his frozen state of shock.

“What the hell, man?” Tony said, pocketing his phone and rushing to the guy’s side before reaching out to steady him. He didn’t look unsteady, but healthy people didn’t just vomit up an entire mouthful of blood at random, so Tony thought it was better to be safe than sorry.

“What happened to you?” Tony asked. “Here, sit down what-”

“Don’t worry,” the guy said, a bit slurred. “I’m a super soldier, we heal three times faster than normal people.”

“What?” Tony asked, guiding the man to the bench that sat in front of the next storefront over from the café. He pushed him to sit, then brushed the few stray hairs that had fallen out of the bun away from the man’s forehead, trying to see if his eyes were focusing.

They were not.

“Are you high?” Tony asked worriedly. What the fuck had happened to this guy? Drunk on god knew what and a mouth full of blood, wandering the street at nine o’clock in the morning on a Tuesday.

“Drugs are a hell of a drug,” the man agreed, nodding, before his hands came up to grip Tony’s, bringing them away from the man’s face. He grasped Tony’s hands tightly to his chest and looked up, eyes wide as if he was seeing Tony for the first time.

“You are gorgeous,” the man said, and while that was flattering and all, now really wasn’t the time.

“You just vomited blood, man,” Tony said, trying to free his hands so he could point. “What happened? Are you sick?”

The man looked to where Tony was pointing, then back up at Tony, eyes big and watery. “I’m so surry,” he slurred. “I thought I was a shark.”

Definitely high. What the fuck was happening here?

Another person came out of the café, coffee in hand, and Tony turned to call out to them, intent on ordering them to call an ambulance for the guy, when he heard a shout come from the opposite direction.

“Bucky!” came a loud, deep voice, followed by pounding footsteps.

Tony turned to watch as a man even larger than the one currently sitting on the bench - who had once again managed to snag both of Tony’s hands in his - come to a halt just beside them, huffing and puffing like he’d just run a marathon. He was tall and blond and had the type of good looks you’d expect to find on an advertisement for hot dogs or baseball or something else All-American.

“Steeb!” the man on the bench called, tugging on Tony’s hands as he smiled once more. More blood dripped out of his mouth and down his chin and Tony took a half a step back to avoid being drooled on. Not too far, as the man still held his hands very tightly, but enough that his shoes wouldn’t get ruined.

“Look,” the man said, holding up Tony’s hands for Steeb – probably Steve – to see.

“I told you to wait in the car,” Steve said, ignoring – what had he shouted earlier? Bucky? Ignoring Bucky’s attempt at show-and-tell altogether.

“Your friend is seriously sick,” Tony tried.

“He’s seriously an idiot,” Steve argued, giving Tony an exasperated look before holding up a paper bag and shaking it. “He’s fresh from the ortho where he had his _wisdom teeth removed_ , still high as a kite on anesthesia, and he was supposed to _wait in the car_ while I picked up his pain meds from the pharmacy.”

Steve’s tone was both frustrated and amused. Tony turned to Bucky and as if prompted, Bucky opened his mouth wide and pointed vaguely. Tony could just make out what was left of a bloody wad of gauze tucked into the back of Bucky’s mouth on the left side, and all he saw on the right was blood and gore. Tony abruptly looked away as all the tension that had been building in him suddenly went loose.

Bucky slowly let go of one of Tony’s hands so he could reach in and pluck out the last little bit of gauze, throwing it on the sidewalk with a, “Blek,” before smiling again up at Tony, blood dribbling happily down his jaw.

“Bucky…” Steve groaned, then opened the bag to rummage around in it as he said once more, “You were supposed to stay. In. The. Car.”

“Your car not here,” Bucky said in that tone that Tony had become very familiar with in his college days. Drunk as hell and 100% confident that he was winning the argument, even if the argument was about whether or not cereal qualified as soup.

“Correct,” Steve said, giving up on finding whatever he was looking for in the bag.

“It is three blocks _that way,_ ” Steve continued, pointing in the direction he’d come from, “where I left it, and you, to wait for me.”

“Boring,” Bucky argued. “’M divorcing you.”

Tony suddenly felt like a third wheel and tugged at his hands feebly, but Bucky held on tight.

“You can’t divorce me,” Steve said in a tone of voice that implied they’d had this argument before. “Because I am married to Nat.”

“Divorcin her too,” Bucky said grumpily, tugging Tony’s hands up so that he could rub his cheek on them. “Leavin you for dis guy.”

That was sweet, it really was, and Tony was definitely interested in continuing this conversation when Bucky was sober and not bleeding profusely from his mouth, but right now, just this instant, he needed Bucky to _stop rubbing his bloody cheek all over his hands._

“Bucky, stop!” Steve said quickly, intervening and pulling Tony’s hands out of Bucky’s grip. “I’m so sorry, he’s not normally like this.”

“It’s fine,” Tony said, holding his hands out in front of him carefully. “I’ll just-” Tony looked towards the café, then back at Steve, at a loss.

“Here, I’ll get the door for you and we can go wash up,” Steve said, tugging Bucky up by the arm and heading for the café.

“You are going to give the staff a heart attack bringing him in there,” Tony mused idly as Steve tugged the door open.

“Yep,” Steve answered. “And I’m going to make him write an apology note to each and every one of them.”

Tony laughed and stepped through, navigating his way toward the back of the café where he knew the men’s room was, careful not to bump his bloodied hands into any of the other customers. He could hear Steve following him, Bucky in tow.

“Mr. Stark!?” came an alarmed question from behind the counter.

“Don’t worry, Pete, I’ve got things under control,” Tony called, glancing over to see the young man watching their progress with wide eyes, his coworker standing beside him with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. “MJ, how are you today?”

“I rigged the espresso machine as a mind control antenna to create an army of the insane,” MJ answered, deadpan.

“What!?” Peter yelped.

“Nice work!” Tony called, then used his elbows to push open the door to the men’s room, holding it open for Steve to drag Bucky inside.

“You’re a regular, I take it,” Steve commented as the door closed behind them. Tony watched Steve lock it and nodded in approval. No need to have someone come in here and think Steve and Tony were beating on a poor, drunk, incredibly handsome man.

“He’s part of the robotics club I run for the local community,” Tony answered distractedly, turning on the water and hastily soaping up his hands. “I’m Tony, by the way.”

“Steve,” Steve said, trying to finagle Bucky into cooperating.

“Rooooooobots,” Bucky said, grinning.

“Stop that,” Steve said, grabbing a large amount of paper towels and all but shoving them in Bucky’s face. “Stop talking, you’re getting blood everywhere.”

“His shirt is definitely ruined,” Tony commented, drying his own hands.

“S’okay!” Bucky said from behind the wad of paper towels Steve was scrubbing into his skin. “Stole it from Sam!”

Steve paused for a moment to glance at the shirt, then smirked. “Sam is going to kill you.”

“Not if he can’t catch meeee,” Bucky sing-songed and pushed Steve’s hands away to make for the door. Steve was quick, however, and looped his massive arms around Bucky’s middle in order to swing him back around.

“I’m a ninja,” Bucky said.

Tony snorted, then held up a finger. “One sec, hold him there.”

Then Tony darted out of the men’s room and over to the counter where Peter was still looking slightly worried and MJ was still smirking. “Pete, first aid kit, please?”

Peter scurried into the back and came back with a small box with a large red cross on it, but before he could ask any more questions, Tony nodded and said, “Thanks. Nothing to worry about, kid,” and went back to where Steve and Bucky were waiting in the men’s room.

In the short time Tony had been out, Steve had managed to get Bucky mostly cleaned up. His face was free of blood, the stolen shirt had been taken off entirely, and Tony very nearly ran straight into Steve at the sight of all that bare skin and muscle on display.

“Uh,” Tony said, then shook himself before opening the kit. “Should be gauze in here. Wad some up and put it in his mouth so he stops looking like a cannibal fresh from a buffet.”

Steve made a fake gagging sound, but did as he was told, taking the items as Tony handed them to him. “Can I get you a coffee after this?” Steve asked as he shoved cotton into his friend’s mouth. “I feel really bad that he bled all over you. I will definitely use his card to pay.”

Bucky shook his head, but as Steve’s hands were currently inside his mouth, whatever he tried to say came out unintelligible. When he resorted to pushing his hands into Steve’s face, Tony laughed.

“Not necessary, really,” Tony assured. “Just happy I could help.”

“Married,” Bucky mumbled around the new gauze in his mouth, still pushing at Steve’s face as Steve tried to dodge. “No date.”

“I’m not-” Steve tried, swatting at Bucky’s hands before stepping back to get out of Bucky’s range entirely. “Seriously? Stop.”

Bucky took advantage of the space to turn on Tony, wrapping his arms around Tony’s waist and resting his head atop Tony’s head. Tony would be lying if he said the height difference didn’t make little butterflies go off in his stomach, and his heart rate went through the roof because Bucky was still not wearing a shirt, but he pushed that feeling away and held out his hand at Steve, who’s face was caught between hilarity and mortification on behalf of his friend.

“Phone, please,” Tony demanded, making grabby motions with his hand.

Steve looked confused, but went for his pocket, pulling out his phone and handing it over slowly.

Tony took it and turned the camera on, flipped it to selfie mode and held it up. Bucky was still happily snuggling his head, so there was plenty of time for Tony to get the angle right, lifting the phone high enough to get both of their faces, the snuggling and the arms in the shot all at once.

He snapped one, then said, “Smile, sweetheart.” When Bucky opened his eyes and looked up to the phone, mouth gaping a bit as he smiled dopily around the gauze, Tony snapped another one.

“Oh, that’s a winner,” Tony said, bringing the phone down. He went into edit mode so he could write his phone number on it, then hit ‘save’ and handed it back to Steve, who was smirking outright.

“If that picture isn’t too embarrassing for him tomorrow, tell him to give me a call,” Tony said with a smile, gently disentangling Bucky and ignoring the pout Bucky was giving him.

“Oh, he’ll be embarrassed,” Steve assured him, tugging Bucky away. “Especially since I’ll be printing a poster of it to hang in his apartment.”

Tony laughed at that and held up his hand in a wave, making his way out of the men’s room. Peter already had his order waiting for him, so Tony slid a fifty over the counter and waved toward the tip jar. He grabbed his coffee and took a seat near the door, pulling out his phone to appear busy. He normally just grabbed his order and left, but he wanted to see Bucky one last time before he left with Steve.

A few seconds later Steve bustled Bucky out of the men’s room, waved to Peter and MJ in apology as he returned the first aid kit and marched his friend toward the door. Bucky spotted him just as Steve opened the door to leave and Bucky pulled him to a stop. Then Bucky kissed his hand and flung it out toward Tony, waving enthusiastically as Steve pulled him roughly through the door and down the sidewalk.

As they both disappeared from sight, Tony felt those butterflies take off again at the thought of Bucky calling him. He shoved his phone in his pocket and headed out.

**Author's Note:**

> Bucky definitely calls.


End file.
